On Sun, 20 Oct 1996, Paul Schroeder wrote:
> Dear Annelidans, For what it's worth from a non-taxonomist, I share Jim
> Blake's concern about ephemeral publication of items which need to be
> permanently recorded. If, in 20 years' time, I need to document a taxonomic
> change made in 1996 on a Web page or in an electronic discussion group, will
> it still be around to check? Taxonomic literature has the longest useful
> lifetime of any form of scientific publication, and ephemeral publication is
> not the way to go for the sake of future workers who need to document
> decisions made by workers in the past (like the late 20th century). If we
> can find a method of permanently archiving such items, then perhaps they
> should be accepted. Until then, I think it most unwise. Taxonomic literature
> is difficult enough to locate!
>
Dear Annelidans
I have to agree with Jim Blake and Paul Schroeder. It is the lack of
a permanent archive that renders electronic works dubious entrants to the
taxonomic literature. I know that nothing can be truly permanent, and
that there are lots of rare and difficult to view paper publications, but
a move towards www publication as the _only_ medium would swing the
balance seriously towards ephemera. However, there is nothing (apart
from time and money!) stopping our trusty moderator from archiving www
works annually on a CD-ROM which would have an ISSN number, placing these
also in a www archive, and having the contents indexed on Current
Contents etc. Such submissions intended for archiving/publication would
have to be clearly designated as such by their authors, and could and
should be "refereed" by list subscribers. Until something like this
happens, I am sure that as authors, we will continue to send writing
intended for posterity to more traditional outlets. (And this is from
someone who counts himself as a technophile!)
bye
Robin
_____________________________________________________________________
Robin Wilson rwilson at mov.vic.gov.au
Museum of Victoria
71 Victoria Crescent telephone 61-3 9284 0216
Abbotsford Victoria fax 61-3 9416 0475
Australia 3067
_____________________________________________________________________
